CLERMONT-FERRAND, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:
Carbios (Euronext Growth Paris: ALCRB), a pioneer in the development of enzymatic solutions dedicated to the lifecycle of plastic and textile polymers, announced the results of a major consumer research study.
CARBIOS’ BIORECYCLING AND BIODEGRADATION TECHNOLOGIES ACCLAIMED BY CONSUMERS
During the first research field study, respondents were exposed to Carbios’ biorecycling process; a new enzyme-based biotechnology that enables biological recycling of all types of PET plastic waste (including bottles, packaging and textiles), and pushes the boundaries of recycling in terms of the number of cycles.
The research results clearly demonstrated that European and US respondents find Carbios’ biorecycling technology significantly more unique and innovative than traditional PET recycling (ie thermo-mechanical recycling). Importantly, respondents in all geographies find Carbios’ biorecycling technology more relevant in its ability to address their concerns and challenges regarding recycling.
In the second research study, conducted in the US, respondents were also exposed to Carbios’ biodegradation technology: an innovative enzymatic solution by which an enzyme is incorporated into plastics during the production process of bio-sourced PLA plastics (corn, sugar cane). This unique approach makes the material made from plants 100% compostable at ambient temperatures and degradable like plants with the built-in enzyme biologically breaking the bioplastic down in less than eight weeks without microplastics or toxic residues; creating a fully organic circularity.
Similarly to Carbios’ biorecycling technology, Carbios’ PLA biodegradation innovation caught US respondents’ attention with 64% overall liking it. Additionally, 93% of the respondents sampled described the concept as innovative, unique, easy to understand (49%), and believable (43%). Up to 82% of the most environmentally engaged respondents declared they would definitely buy more products made with Carbios’ fully circular biodegradable bioplastic.
“Although we need to expand consumer awareness in the months and years to come, these results are very positive and extremely encouraging for the future of Carbios’ enzyme-based biotechnologies. It has never been clearer to the whole plastic industry that consumers are calling for solutions that truly accelerate the transition to plastic circularity,” said Emmanuel Ladent, Carbios’ Chief Executive Officer.
CONSUMERS CLAIM THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO MAKE PLASTIC FULLY CIRCULAR
The research says 99% of the respondents consider it important to protect the environment, while plastic pollution is now ranked the third most-concerning environmental issues after climate change and ocean pollution.
This awareness brings most of these consumers to be environmentally active when it comes to purchasing goods and sorting. For the US respondents, eco-friendly packaging comes in the fourth place in terms of purchase drivers for packaged goods and 65% of them declare sorting plastic from general waste on a regular basis, which makes plastic the most sorted type of waste.
Nevertheless, for a vast majority of the respondents across geographies, even if they would like to reduce their plastic consumption most of the time there is no suitable alternative that is as convenient, light, and cost-efficient as plastics. Hence in an ideal world, consumers would like all plastic waste in landfills and oceans to be collected, cleaned, reused and recycled.
“Deep down consumers hope there is still an opportunity to revert global plastics pollution and stop producing more plastics from oil and gas. We are working to optimize our research and development to deliver plastics biorecycling and biodegradation at an industrial scale. Our first 50,000-ton PET plant will be operational in 2025 and others will rapidly follow. We hope to have multiple PLA products on the market in 2023-2024,” added Alain Marty, Chief Scientific Officer of Carbios.
About Carbios
Established in 2011 by Truffle Capital, Carbios is a green chemistry company, developing biological and innovative processes. Through its unique approach of combining enzymes and plastics, Carbios aims to address new consumer expectations and the challenges of a broad ecological transition by taking up a major challenge of our time: plastic and textile pollution.
Carbios deconstructs any type of PET (the dominant polymer in bottles, trays, textiles made of polyester) into its basic components which can then be reused to produce new PET plastics with equivalent quality to virgin ones. This PET innovation, the first of its kind in the world, was recently recognized in a scientific paper published in front cover of the prestigious journal Nature. Carbios successfully started up its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand in 2021. It has now taken another key step towards the industrialization of its process with the construction of a first-of-a-kind unit in partnership with Indorama Ventures.
In 2017, Carbios and L’Oréal co-founded a consortium to contribute to the industrialization of its proprietary recycling technology. Committed to developing innovative solutions for sustainable development, Nestlé Waters, PepsiCo and Suntory Beverage & Food Europe joined this consortium in April 2019. In 2022, Carbios signed an agreement with On, Patagonia, PUMA, and Salomon, to develop solutions promoting the recyclability and circularity of their products.
The Company has also developed an enzymatic biodegradation technology for PLA-based (a bio sourced polymer) single-use plastics. This technology can create a new generation of plastics that are 100% compostable at ambient temperatures, integrating enzymes at the heart of the plastic product.
For more information, please visit www.carbios.com/en
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Carbios (ISIN FR0011648716/ALCRB) is eligible for the PEA-PME, a government program allowing French residents investing in SMEs to benefit from income tax rebates.
This press release does not constitute and cannot be regarded as constituting an offer to the public, an offer to sell or a subscription offer or as a solicitation to solicit a buy or sell order in any country.
Translation for information purposes only. In case of discrepancy between the French and the English version of this press release, the French version shall prevail.
